Self-Advocacy: Being Part of Your Community

Welcome to Self-Advocacy: Being Part of Your Community, brought to you by the Idaho Self-Advocate Leadership Network, in collaboration with the Center on Disabilities and Human Development, and the Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center. This training will help you learn about barriers and how to overcome them.

Self-Advocacy: Being Part of Your Community Transcript

Slide 1:

(Shiloh) Welcome to "Being Part of Your Community, Breaking Down Barriers," brought to you by the Idaho Self-Advocate Leadership Network. In collaboration with the Center on Disabilities and Human Development, and the Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center. I'm Shiloh Blackburn, and I will be guiding you through this training today.

Slide 2:

The purpose of this training is to learn about barriers and how to overcome them. To participate in your community by finding groups and activities that are important to you. To become a good, active, and responsible citizen in your town or city.

Slide 3:

What stops you from joining the community? Barriers! Some immediate barriers are other peoples' bad attitudes about you. Your own bad attitudes. Not having enough money. Parents, friends, and service providers' attitudes about you. Government systems; Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, or no insurance at all.

Slide 4:

How do you break down barriers? Be seen and be heard. Speak up about what you want and need. Talk to other people about things that are important to you. Like your dreams, your hobbies, your successes, and your concerns. Stand up for your beliefs. Go into your community as often as you can!

Slide 5:

To break down barriers in your community, when going out, you need to remember several key facts. Disability is a natural human experience. Seeing you in your city or hometown will promote inclusion and help raise disability awareness among your fellow community members. Seeing you live your life just like anybody else will help other people be less afraid of people with disabilities. Help your community members understand you're more alike them, than not. You just do some things differently.

Slide 6:

What is Inclusion? Inclusion means separate parts come together as a whole, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It means people of different abilities, races, religions, beliefs, and sexual orientation live and work together in a community. They share their ideas, thoughts, experiences, talents, and feelings with one another.

Slide 7:

Inclusion also means looking at your community's calendar or bulletin board and taking part in activities like talking to your family and friends about upcoming events or concerts, going to city council meetings, attending fairs, farmer's markets, and rallies in your town or city, and watching or reading the news.

Slide 8:

Tell people what you need. Ask for help when you need it. People you can ask are friends, and family, your state's Protection and Advocacy agency, your Independent Living Centers, churches, and community action programs.

Slide 9:

Other groups or agencies who can help you are, the YMCA, the YWCA, recreation centers, and your state's developmental disabilities council.

Slide 10:

Show people what YOU can do. Get involved, lend a hand.

Help others when they need it, your friends, and family, your state's Protection and Advocacy agency, your Independent Living Centers.

Slide 11:

Other groups or agencies you can help are churches, and community action programs, YMCA, YWCA, recreation centers, and your state's developmental disabilities council.

Slide 12:

Find people who care about the things that you care about. You can find them at church, your public library, your workplace, or community college, or university, and on the Internet.

Slide 13:

If you're afraid to go to a meeting or club by yourself ask a relative or a friend to go with you. Call ahead for more information. Check out the building before you attend the meeting if you're worried about accessibility and the bathroom.

Slide 14:

Being part of your community means being a good citizen. You should register to vote, if you haven't already. Learn about the issues and candidates so you can be an informed voter. If you need help, ask a friend or family member to help you study. Work on a campaign with others. Vote on Election Day!

Slide 15:

Find a group or project that's important to you. Help with or organize an activity in your town. Examples of this are a clean-up day, a toy or food drive, or "take your legislator to work day." Volunteer or get a job at your local animal shelter. Work at a polling place near your home on Election Day.

Slide 16:

Other important community activities include talking to your city council about curb cuts, updating older buildings so they're up to the ADA's accessibility code. Working to get more choices in the services that you get.

Slide 17:

Being a part of your community means being responsible. If you're going to a meeting, be on time. Do what you say you're going to do. For example, if you said you'd help call others who are helping with a toy drive, you should call those people.

Add to your group's discussion. Share your opinion and ideas. Be responsible for your choices and actions. Be someone people can trust.

Slide 18:

Being responsible also means calling someone in charge if you can't make it to a meeting. It also means managing your time wisely, do not take on more tasks than you feel you can reasonably handle.

Slide 19:

Get involved now! Take action! Be seen! Speak up! Be heard! Be responsible!

Slide 20:

Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoyed the training. If you would like to view more trainings and learn more about self-advocacy, and other related topics, please visit idahocdhd.org/isaln.